Damon Albarn launches new band
with tiny pub gig

'The Good The Bad And The
Queen' premiered in Devon

Damon
Albarn, Tony Allen and Paul Simonontake a break
at rehearsals

Damon Albarn launched
his new project 'The Good The
Bad And The Queen' with a gig in a tiny village pub
last night (October 20).

The group, which also
features Clash bassist Paul
Simonon, ex-Verve guitarist
Simon Tong and the
influential Afrobeat
drummer Tony Allen,
played to just 150 people at the
Pig's Nose in
'East Prawle',
Devon.

The show, the first time the
group had ever played live, was a warm-up for the band's
appearance at the London
Roundhouse on October 26 as part of the
BBC's
Electric Proms season,
and saw the group playing back their forthcoming,
Danger Mouse-produced
album in order.

Making it clear that the
'The Good The Band And The
Queen' was the album's title and not the new group's
name - "We haven't got a name at all, we're nameless!" -
Albarn was also pleased
with the show praising his new group for not resting on their
reputations.

"It was great," he explained.
"We've done a lot of rehearsal and none of us have taken it
for granted even though we done a lot before. You know that
everyone has performed in front of 100,000 people, so they're
not there to prove anything, they're there to really make sure
the music is as good as they can get it."